Love on the Turquoise Land

In ancient times, a meteor falls upon South Mountain, and the resulting flames and scorched earth give rise to anomalies, forming the Turquoise Land. From this transformed area, flesh-eating Earth Fiends emerge and begin terrorizing people, prompting warriors to march to South Mountain to exterminate them.

The warriors who fought and sealed the remaining Earth Fiends beneath dark iron gates evolve into a secret organization, the Nanshan (South Mountain) Hunters, tasked with monitoring supernatural threats across generations. Its three clans, Blade, Hound, and Whip, each maintain their own art and strict codes, gathering quadrennially to patrol the mountains and protect humanity.

In the present day, Nie Jiu Luo arrives in South Mountain to view a deity statue in an abandoned temple, while Yan Tuo separately visits the orphanage owned by his company. Their paths first cross this same day, kicking off the present-day storyline.

Involved: Jiu Luo — Participant · Yan Tuo — Participant · Guo Ya — Antagonist · Mr. Sun — Victim · Xiong Hei — Participant

Jiu Luo reports Yan Tuo's jeep license plate to Jiang Bai Chuan for investigation, setting the Nanshan Hunters on his trail as a possible person of interest connected to the Earth Fiends.

Involved: Jiu Luo — Participant · Bai Chuan — Participant

Nie Jiu Luo's mother, a Nanshan Hunter of the Blade Clan, dies during a patrol mission, after which her father takes his own life. Jiang Bai Chuan takes in the orphaned Jiu Luo, raising her within the Hunter organization.

Involved: Jiu Luo — Subject · Bai Chuan — Participant · Xing Shen — Participant

The young Nie Jiu Luo trains alongside Xing Shen, from the Hound Clan, under Jiang Bai Chuan's guidance, forming a close childhood bond. Even during these formative years, Jiu Luo expresses her wish to eventually leave the Hunters and live as an ordinary person.

Involved: Jiu Luo — Subject · Bai Chuan — Participant · Xing Shen — Participant

Jiu Luo subdues Yan Tuo and brings him, along with Sun Zhou, to Jiang Bai Chuan. During his detainment, Jiu Luo's own tragic childhood is revealed, and Yan Tuo is questioned about his connection to the Earth Fiends.

Involved: Jiu Luo — Participant · Yan Tuo — Captured · Bai Chuan — Participant · Mr. Sun — Participant

The Earth Fiends launch a battle against the Nanshan Hunters to reclaim Yan Tuo and Guo Ya, revealing Yan Tuo's unexpected value to Lin Xi Rou's faction. Jiang Bai Chuan offers Jiu Luo her freedom from the Hunters if she recaptures him.

Involved: Yan Tuo — Rescued · Guo Ya — Rescued · Bai Chuan — Participant · Jiu Luo — Participant

Yan Tuo repeatedly tracks down Jiu Luo seeking answers about the Earth Fiends, escalating to driving them both into the ocean to force her hand despite her hydrophobia. Their combative dynamic intensifies through these confrontations.

Involved: Yan Tuo — Participant · Jiu Luo — Target

While Yan Tuo's birth mother is pregnant, his father brings a woman, introduced as a friend's sister, into the household to help with chores. This woman is Lin Xi Rou, who becomes his father's mistress and, after his mother's death, takes his mother's name and place in the family.

Involved: Yan Tuo — Participant · Jiu Luo — Participant · Xi Rou — Subject

Yan Tuo takes Jiu Luo to his birth mother's grave and reveals the truth of how Lin Xi Rou infiltrated and took over his family, asking for Jiu Luo's help in uncovering the full truth and avenging his mother.

Involved: Yan Tuo — Participant · Jiu Luo — Participant · Xi Rou — Subject

Jiu Luo breaks her organization's rules to share the legend of the Earth Fiends with Yan Tuo at an abandoned temple, agreeing to a limited working partnership with him. This marks the official start of their alliance.

Involved: Jiu Luo — Participant · Yan Tuo — Participant

Yan Tuo shares what he has learned with his adoptive sister Lin Ling, revealing that she has secretly been his inside spy within Lin Xi Rou's household all along. Together they conclude their adoptive mother is an Earth Fiend.

Involved: Yan Tuo — Participant · Lin Ling — Participant

Yan Tuo sneaks into Lin Xi Rou's secret underground facility, finds a captured Nanshan Hunter, and narrowly avoids exposing himself to Xiong Hei by turning the confrontation around and demanding more transparency from the organization.

Involved: Yan Tuo — Participant · Xiong Hei — Participant

Acting on Yan Tuo's intel, Jiu Luo takes up her mother's ancestral sword and joins the Nanshan Hunters on a mission to rescue a captured comrade used as bait by the Earth Fiends. A powerful, unidentified monster attacks the group during the rescue.

Involved: Jiu Luo — Participant · Bai Chuan — Rescued

During the Golden Gate incident twenty years ago, the young Earth Fiend Locust is captured by the Nanshan Hunters. Rather than being contained by the organization, Locust is secretly tamed and kept as a hidden pet by Xing Shen, unbeknownst to his fellow Hunters for two decades.

Involved: Xing Shen — Participant · Bai Chuan — Captured

At some point in Yan Tuo's past, his younger sister vanishes without explanation, a loss he still carries as part of his blood feud against Lin Xi Rou. He later shares this grief with Jiu Luo after she treats his injuries.

Involved: Yan Tuo — Participant · Jiu Luo — Participant

The mysterious attacking monster is revealed to be Locust, Xing Shen's secretly tamed Earth Fiend pet, sparking outrage among the Hunters. In the ensuing chaos, Lin Xi Rou's forces manage to capture Jiang Bai Chuan.

Involved: Xing Shen — Participant · Bai Chuan — Captured

During the battle with Locust, Yan Tuo intervenes to save a distracted Jiu Luo and is severely wounded. Jiu Luo rushes him to the mountain's peak for a painful but successful sunlight-based treatment, deepening their bond, and Lin Xi Rou reveals her own Earth Fiend identity and history with Jiang Bai Chuan around the same time.

Involved: Yan Tuo — Participant · Jiu Luo — Participant

Sun Zhou, infected since the earlier Guo Ya attack, escapes and attacks his own aunt before Jiu Luo and Xing Shen track him down using a stolen phone's GPS and stop him in time.

Involved: Mr. Sun — Participant · Jiu Luo — Participant · Xing Shen — Participant

With their leader held captive, Jiu Luo enlists Yan Tuo's help and gives him a bracelet containing a hidden weapon, marking a new level of trust and cooperation between them as they prepare to move against Lin Xi Rou's forces.

Involved: Jiu Luo — Participant · Yan Tuo — Participant · Bai Chuan — Captured

Twenty years before the present story, Jiang Bai Chuan and the Nanshan Hunters clash with Lin Xi Rou and her Earth Fiend comrades at the Golden Gate incident. A Hunter loses his leg in the battle, the young Earth Fiend Locust is captured, and Lin Xi Rou herself narrowly escapes, setting up a long-simmering rivalry between her and Jiang Bai Chuan.

Involved: Xi Rou — Subject · Bai Chuan — Participant